Can a Nordic Trak become a Generator???

I saw a thread on Gary North's site about possibly rigging an exercise bike up to generate power, such as to charge batteries, etc.

The responses talked about getting a car alternator for the job. I know there are many very bright and resourceful people who frequent this forum, so I wanted to know what you folks thought about the idea.

I know, of course, that lil' ol' me couldn't generate more than a pittance of power, but I do use my Nordic Trak everyday, for a minimum of 30 minutes (no I am NOT either lying!!!) and it seems like I should be able to capture some of that energy and put it to use. If nothing else, maybe I could recharge the batteries in my walk-man?

Is this a completely stupid idea?

Pop quiz: If I 'ski' for 30 minutes at an average speed of 5 mph with a low-medium tension setting, how long do you suppose it would take me to recharge a 12-volt marine battery? (We have one connected to our pellet stove as a battery back-up.)

Boy, wouldn't that be keen? And if it would work with a Nordic Trak, maybe I could do it with the tread mill, too, and take the dog for a walk at the same time!!! Okay, maybe not.

Any thoughts? I mean aside from suppositions about my mental stability...

Answers

Yup, you can do it.......are you sure you want to?

Answer to ur pop quiz --
Assume that you need a total charge of 75 amp-hrs for your battery.
Superwoman can do it in about an hour.[1] If you're more normal than
superwoman you can probably charge the battery in about 6 hours.[2]

But, if you're going to ski on the darned thing for 6 hours you won't
need any more heat in the house.

[1] Truck generator will put out 75 amps, so will recharge the
battery in an hour.
[2] Assuming that you can generate about 1/3 horsepower, this equals
about 250 watts, or 12.5 amps. You'll need to charge 75/12.5 hours =
6 hours.

Have at it, Debbie. You'll stay slim and have great leg muscles when
(if)we recover from Y2K.

I certainly can't answer your question but, I think that q's like
that are excellent.....Thought provoking in that they sometimes lead
the way to thinking of other untraditional methods of doing "things".